The Beauty of Wool

Look for the Woolmark. Forget your notions of wool being coarse, heavy, hot, or scratchy. The finest suits are made of 100% wool. Offered in a tremendous assortment of weights, grades and weaves, wool is the finest material offered by man or Mother Nature for your clothing needs.

Wool keeps you cool in the hot summer months and warm in the cold winter months. Wool can hold 30% of its own weight in moisture. The absorption of water makes it warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. (Think of it like living near a large lake. The moisture from the lake makes it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.) Another remarkable aspect of wool is that it has a memory. The natural twist in wool fibers enables you to hang up your Graham’s suit after wearing it all day and having the wrinkles relax on the hanger overnight. Unless you have put some especially hard miles on your suit, there will be very little, if any, need to touch up your suit with an iron before each wearing. Wool is also extremely durable. You may bend one piece of wool 30,000 times before it will break. Best of all, wool is completely natural and 100% renewable.

Making your investment last

All suits and sport coats from Graham’s should be dry cleaned only. Your 100% wool dress slacks are dry clean only too. Pay close attention to the labels sewn inside the garment. If you are in doubt, send the pant out to a good dry cleaner just in case. Under normal circumstances, allowing your suit to hang on its hanger and air out after each wearing will preclude the need for frequent dry cleaning. (Note: This is under normal circumstances. Getting caught in a downpour, spending a lot of time in a very smoky atmosphere, or mowing the lawn in your suit pants on a muggy summer night are not included in the parameters of normal wearing circumstances.)

Your suits, dress pants, and sport coats do not need dry cleaning after each wearing. Excessive dry cleaning is hard on a garment. If you are wearing your suit in your regular clothing rotation under normal wearing circumstances, a suit or sport coat should not need to be dry cleaned more than four or five times a year.

• Brush your garment after each wearing with a whiskbroom or horsehair brush. The brushing will help the garment shed both dirt and wrinkles.
  
  
• Remember to hang your suits and sport coats on a contoured or curved suit hanger like the one your suit left the store on. The contoured hangers maintain the natural shape of the jacket and support the shoulder padding. Wire hangers from the dry cleaners and those pink, plastic hangers that match the curtains and lampshades are very hard on your suits, sport coats or overcoats because straight hangers do not resemble the curves and contours of your shoulders and back. Over time straight plastic or wire hangers will break down the integrity of the shoulders of your suit.
  
  
• As a natural fiber, wool needs to breathe. Ideally, you should store your suit uncovered on a contoured hanger. If your suit gets wet, hang it up and allow it to dry naturally, away from heat sources. If it looks very wrinkled after it has dried, take it to a reputable dry cleaner and ask them to press the suit for you.
  
  
• Keep cedar wood in your closet to store and protect your fine wool garments. Moths and other bugs are attracted to odors (especially sweeter smells like cologne or food stains). Cedar in your closet helps absorb these odors making clothes in your closet less detectable to moths. Dry cleaning your topcoat and seasonal clothing will help remove stains and odors before they are put away for the season. This will make them less of a target for moths and other pests.
  
  
• Never leave your suit jackets and sport coats buttoned while they are on the hanger. The jacket lapels should overlap one another. Buttoning the jacket will cause the lapels to bulge and bend, which prevents the coat from laying smoothly and naturally on you. The same applies for pants. Leave pants unzipped and unbuttoned when on the hanger.
  
  
• If possible, hang your pants upside down by the cuff or hems with pant clamp hangers. This helps pants hold their creases and allows pants to reshape themselves with the help of gravity. If you do not have these hangers, then hang your pant over a rounded dowel rather than on a thin wire hanger. This will prevent pant legs from having a horizontal crease that runs across your knees.